PALM BEACH, Florida — Former President Donald Trump, the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner, told Breitbart News exclusively last week that he expects Democrat President Joe Biden would probably pardon his son Hunter Biden if the latter is convicted of crimes on the many criminal charges he faces.
“I think he [Joe Biden] would do anything. I think he’s a guy that would do anything. He probably would do that,” Trump said during a more-than-two-hour-long interview at Mar-a-Lago last Thursday evening when asked if Joe would pardon Hunter Biden if he is convicted of crimes.
Hunter Biden faces several criminal charges by Special Counsel David Weiss. Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, was granted Special Counsel status last year when investigating Hunter Biden. In September, Weiss formally brought three charges against Hunter Biden related to his possession of a firearm. In December, Weiss brought nine more charges—including three felony charges—against Hunter Biden for allegedly failing to file his taxes, evading an assessment, and filing a fraudulent form.
The White House has repeatedly insisted that Joe Biden will not pardon his son Hunter Biden. According to NBC News, in December, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated unequivocally that Joe Biden would not pardon his son. “I’ve been very clear; the president is not going to pardon his son,” she said.
But the NBC News story raises concerns that if and when Hunter Biden would be convicted on such charges, Joe Biden could decide to do so then. What’s more, after the election next year—win or lose—Joe Biden will likely never face voters again. If that’s the case, as a lame duck outgoing president in the case of a loss or a just reelected but term limited president in the case of a win, Joe Biden could decide that he has nothing to lose in that regard and could just do it anyway to protect his troubled son.
As for a Joe Biden pardon of his son Hunter Biden, Breitbart News has regularly said that is the likeliest outcome of this saga.
Speaking of pardons, during the interview with Breitbart News, Trump said attorneys for him when he was still the president suggested he pardon himself—no president has ever done that, but the power of the pardon is pretty absolute and it would likely have held up under scrutiny—to avoid the legal troubles he’s going through now. Trump says he decided against it because he is innocent, and for historical purposes he did not want to be the first president ever to pardon himself.
“You know, I could have pardoned myself,” Trump told Breitbart News. “I had a couple of lawyers that said these people are crazy, if you don’t do it you’ll go through a lot. I said I didn’t do anything wrong so I’m not going to do it. But I could have pardoned myself when I left the White House. That would have held up very strongly. Pardon is a very powerful right. I didn’t do it because I thought it would be totally inappropriate, and if you do that you look guilty somewhat. But I had that option and I was given that very strong option by lawyers somewhat. I was given that by numerous lawyers who said, ‘If you want to do that you could because you’re going to spend a lot of your time in court and these people are totally nuts, they’re bad people, they hate our country, and they hate you. They have Trump Derangement Syndrome, so, sir, you could pardon yourself now so you won’t have to go through it,’ and I said, ‘I don’t want to do that for purposes of history. I don’t want that history that I pardoned myself, because I did nothing wrong.’”
More from Trump’s latest interview with Breitbart News is forthcoming.
